Hello everyone! 2021 went by so fast, especially December, it still feels a bit weird that we’re already living in 2022. Last week I announced my goals for 2022 and one of them is to practice daily journaling. My main reason for doing this is that journaling is a great way for self reflection and to close the day in a very mindful way. About one hour before I head off to bed, I put everything aside, bring something to drink (herbal tea is perfect for this) to wind down and write down my thoughts on the day on paper.

This year I have three different journals and although one might have sufficed, I really love writing in multiple and I’ll try to explain why, because they’re very different from one another.

My Gratitude Journal

This one was a gift from Bren for Yule. I absolutely love it. There are several journals like these on the market and Bren bought one for growth. This one is all about practicing gratitude (or dankbaarheid in Dutch). A skill that many people have not developed properly, I believe. This journal isn’t simply about writing down what you’re grateful for. It starts off with a couple of questions to get you going, after which you can create entries whenever you like to write down things you’re grateful for.

Practicing gratitude has been thoroughly researched and the mental health benefits over time are great. It allows you to better release toxic emotions, because you are grateful for the things you have and for me personally, that is often enough. I have already let go of my need to buy stuff to become happy some time ago and the sooner we all realise we won’t gain true happiness from all the junk we buy, the better. That doesn’t mean I never buy anything, but it does mean I’m happy with what I have as well.

So far, the journal is awesome and I can’t wait to re-read some of my entries at a later point in time! Because that’s always the most fun part of journaling, I believe.

The daily question journal

I got this journal a year ago, also from Bren, and I have filled out every question for 2021. This journal allows you to do this five years in a row and now that I’ve restarted, it’s fun to read my old answers and see if anything has really changed. I try to only read the question first, think of an answer and then re-read my original 2021 entry before writing something down, because I don’t want to become to biased in my new answer for 2022. This journal is also in Dutch an named: ‘Elke dag een vraag‘.

Some of the questions are really deep, while others aren’t, but it is a fun exercise and I’m really curious what kind of answers will truly evolve over the five year period!

My diary for 2022

Moleskine is one of my favourite notebook brands and I just couldn’t help myself and got a hardcover 2022 agenda as a diary. This one has a full page per day and the idea is to write down what kept me busy during the day, but it also allows for me to make To-Do lists and write down some other things, like three things I’m grateful for (I know, I already got that gratitude journal for it too), or any other random thought. The idea is to write down a summary of the day and what kept me busy.

That’s a whole lot of journals!

Yep, but I love writing and putting my thoughts down on paper really helps me to keep a perspective on things. Sometimes you can make a whole lot more sense about stuff that’s been bothering when you write them down. Of course, I always talk with Bren about these topics, but there’s something magical about writing your thoughts down. It is one of the most mindful practices you can do and for me, it’s almost therapeutical in nature. There are times when I find it hard to speak my mind, but writing down everything and then letting Bren read it, can really help to better make her understand my thoughts. I am a writer after all 😉

Happy writing!

~Jeffrey